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Sep 14, 2007

Muslim Münchhausen Syndrome

Have you ever found yourself wondering what that peculiar mark was on the forehead of Al Qaeda's top strategist and second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri was and what was the significance of it?

The mark on Ayman al-Zawahri's head is called a prayer bump, or a prayer scar, often found on the foreheads of Islam's über pious adherents. Dermatologists studying this phenomenon found in a very small percentage of Muslim men have referred to these lesions as "hyperkeratotic nodular callosities". They are often thought to be an inadvertent byproduct caused by prostrating yourself towards Mecca multiple times daily over a period of several years. But lets be honest, simply prostrating yourself regardless of how long you do it, is not going to cause some big massive lesion to appear on your forehead. That is unless you get a little over enthusiastic in your prostrations. From my own empirical observations the majority of these "prayer bumps" seem to be, for the most part, self-inflicted and caused by repeatably rubbing one's forehead against a prayer mat. Which then leads us to the next question... Why would someone in their right mind want a big huge bump in the middle of their forehead? The following verse from the Quran might shed some light on that subject.

"Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves. Thou (O Muhammad) seest them bowing and falling prostrate (in worship), seeking bounty from Allah and (His) acceptance. The mark of them is on their foreheads from the traces of prostration. Such is their likeness in the Torah and their likeness in the Gospel - like as sown corn that sendeth forth its shoot and strengtheneth it and riseth firm upon its stalk, delighting the sowers - that He may enrage the disbelievers with (the sight of) them. Allah hath promised, unto such of them as believe and do good works, forgiveness and immense reward." -- Al-Fath (The Victory) 48:29

And there you have it, a kind of Muslim Münchhausen syndrome if you will, a definite bonus when recruiting and then leading a bunch of Jihadi wannabes. And despite the fact that the self-infliction would seem to void their overall significance, for the suitably disposed, Jihadi wannabe these "prayer bumps" often serve as an irresistible, prefabricated metaphor for the über pious and for those with a propensity to inspire radicalization.